Former Israel Foreign Ministry Director-General Dore Gold said: “In order for negotiations to succeed, and I’ve been involved in a series of negotiations from the days of the Hebron Accord to the Wye Agreement and onward. You have to get the parties into what I call ‘the box of realism.’ And, unfortunately, those who have been engaged in peace negotiations on the Palestinian side haven’t been there.”

“Partly it’s not their fault. Partly it’s the fault of the international community which has organizations like UNESCO, which in May 2017 adopted yet another resolution which disqualified Israel – cut off the historical and legal ties of Israel to Jerusalem. And in a certain sense, what President Trump has done, he has introduced an important correction – I may say a brave correction – in that whole history of UNESCO resolutions that aren’t based on international law, they’re not based on truth, they’re based on political power being exercised against the State of Israel.”

Amb. Dore Gold

Ambassador Dore Gold has served as President of the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs since 2000. From June 2015 until October 2016 he served as Director-General of the Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Previously he served as Foreign Policy Advisor to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel’s Ambassador to the UN (1997-1999), and as an advisor to Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.